Great Balls of Fire

~For those of you that don't keep up on current events, there was a tremendous chemical fire and series of explosions at a hazardous waste disposal plant, located in the far-off, distant land of...Apex, North Carolina. That's right, suburbia USA, adjacent to my hometown, has literally blown itself to pieces:

^ Seeing pictures like this on the BBC and CNN websites scared the crap out of me, since I know people that live in that area, and my mother sometimes works at a school in Apex. Needless to say, I was relieved to learn that my family (in neighboring Cary, only two miles away) is safe.

^The fire occurred at a facility holding toxic chemicals such as cadmium, chromium, mercury, and hazardous organic materials. Local officials aren't sure what ignited the chemicals (my guess: a careless smoker), but at one point they reached 150 feet in height and were accompanied by explosions. The downtown area was soon covered in a cloud of toxic chlorine smog, and rescue workers had to wear full Hazmat gear. I hope the locals have duct tape...

Rain failed to put out the chemical fires, and firefighters did not use water or foam for fear of adding to the blaze. Chemical fires can be nasty! The blaze was finally extinguished at 12:22 am local time.

^16,000 people were evacuated from the area and over a hundred were hospitalized. Some people stayed in schools set up as emergency shelters. I understand that hotels in the area are doing excellent business.

It turns out that the company that operated the facility ("operated" being past tense), EQ Industrial Services, was fined $32,000 in March for six safety violations. Curiously, the dollar amount of the fine is roughly equal to the population of Apex. EQ has generously set up a toll-free information line for area residents and will reimburse displaced residents for their expenses. Gee, we're real sorry and all that we, y'know, contaminated your town with toxic chemicals, but by golly, if you need to stay in a hotel room for a day or two, it's on us!

^ Ironically, the "EQ" of EQ Industrial Services stands for "Environmental Quality".

Although the rain has helped to clear the chemical clouds, the runoff is a toxic sludge of poisonous heavy metals that probably won't add much to the local plant life. It reminds me a bit of Carthage, the arch-rival of the Roman Republic over two thousand years ago. The story goes that after finally conquering the city of Carthage, the Romans executed most of the inhabitants, sold the rest into slavery, demolished all the buildings, and sowed the surrounding fields with salt so that nothing would be able to grow there for a long, long time. I hope Apex fares better.

~Oyasumi.